"The silent pictures were the purest form of cinema." – Alfred Hitchcock

Following on AFI Silver's hugely successful career-spanning retrospective of Alfred Hitchcock's films in 2011, here now are Hitchcock's earliest, rarest films: his nine surviving films from the silent era. The restoration of Alfred Hitchcock's silent films has been the biggest and most complex restoration project undertaken by the BFI National Archive to date. Decades of damage and wear have been removed; the sharpness of the images improved; new shots discovered and intertitles and tinting restored. The BFI has used elements borrowed from seven international archives in the restoration process, but film materials from the BFI National Archive–including a number of original negatives–have been central to the project. Hitchcock's silent films are essential to an understanding of his later work and these restorations now enable them to be seen afresh and discovered by new audiences across the world.

The Hitchcock 9 is a joint venture of the BFI, Rialto Pictures/Studiocanal and Park Circus/ITV. The series is co-presented by the AFI Silver Theatre and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. For information on the four films screening at the NGA, visit NGA.gov.

THE MANXMANLive musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne

A love triangle between two childhood friends and the girl they both love plays out against the rugged coastline of the Isle of Man and the puritanical social codes of an isolated fishing village in one of Hitchcock's most accomplished silent films. Based on Sir Hall Caine's celebrated 1894 novel, the story is highly representative of its times, as social upheaval in the wake of the Industrial Revolution brought change to traditional ways of living. Two best friends take divergent paths in life, Pete (Carl Brisson) becomes a fisherman like others before him, while Philip (Malcolm Keen) studies law at university. Their rivalry turns dangerous and passions run high when both men fall for comely lass Kate (the lovely, sensual Anny Ondra, the Czech actress made famous in Hitchcock's BLACKMAIL, their very next picture together).

About Stephen Horne
Based at London's BFI Southbank, but playing at all the major UK venues and many international film festivals and cinematheques, Stephen Horne has long been considered one of the world’s leading silent film accompanists. He has recorded music for DVD releases, BBC TV screenings and museum installations of silent films. Although principally a pianist, he often incorporates flute, accordion and keyboards into his performances, sometimes simultaneously. For more information, visit stephenhorne.co.uk.

About Ray Brubacher
Ray Brubacher is now in his fifth decade accompanying silent films on organ for the AFI. A longtime resident of Olney, Maryland, Ray has been active as a music teacher, church organist and performer at all silent film screening venues in the Capital area; these days he frequently plays at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Maryland.

A woman (Anny Ondra) kills in self-defense, and is subsequently bedeviled by both her terrifying memories and a merciless blackmailer. The film was shot on location in London, lending verisimilitude to Hitchcock's first major chase sequence and bravura finale, where the police pursue the blackmailer all the way to the domed roof of the British Museum's Reading Room. Originally made and released in 1929 as a silent film, BLACKMAIL was partly reshot and released that same year as the first British talkie. The enormous success of the sound version and the passing of the silent film era relegated the silent version to undeserved obscurity, and it was only much later rediscovered and restored. "Watching the original version of BLACKMAIL today confirms that what would be known as Hitchcock's first sound film was also his last and best silent film." –Rafael Film Center.

About Mont Alto Picture Orchestra
The Mont Alto Orchestra is a five-piece chamber ensemble that revives the repertoire and scoring techniques of the orchestras in movie theaters during the silent film era. The New York Times says, "The results are often breathtakingly beautiful and always in the strict service of the film on the screen." Mont Alto was formed in Colorado in 1989, and has scored more than 100 silent films using historic orchestrations, recording 20+ film scores for releases on DVD, Blu-Ray and Turner Classic Movies. The Mont Alto Orchestra are regulars at the Telluride Film Festival, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the Silent Film Society of Chicago and the Kansas Silent Film Festival, and have toured around the United States, from Films at Lincoln Center in New York to Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. For more information, visit mont-alto.com.

Fri, Jul 26, 7:30
Tickets $20/$15 AFI Members

THE RINGLive musical accompaniment by the Mont Alto Picture Orchestra

For his sixth film as a director, Hitchcock leapt at the chance to develop an original idea for the screen, having tired of the stage adaptations he'd recently worked on. The result was this highly cinematic film, a visually stunning love triangle/action drama set in the rough 'n' tumble world of carnival barkers, tent shows and professional boxing. Jack "One Round" Sander (Carl Brisson) is a promising contender hoping for a shot at the big time, his success in the boxing ring ultimately in service to the one he hopes to place upon the finger of the lovely Mabel (Lillian Hall-Davis). But his promoter Bob Corby (Ian Hunter), who also has eyes for Mabel, would prefer that his boxer focus only on the sport. The setting of the climactic title fight, very convincingly located in a jam-packed Royal Albert Hall, was cleverly constructed through process photography.

A Rialto Pictures Release · Restoration by the BFI National Archive in association with STUDIOCANAL · Principal restoration funding provided by The Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Film Foundation · Additional funding provided by Deluxe 142 and The Mohamed S. Farsi Foundation

About Mont Alto Picture Orchestra
The Mont Alto Orchestra is a five-piece chamber ensemble that revives the repertoire and scoring techniques of the orchestras in movie theaters during the silent film era. The New York Times says, "The results are often breathtakingly beautiful and always in the strict service of the film on the screen." Mont Alto was formed in Colorado in 1989, and has scored more than 100 silent films using historic orchestrations, recording 20+ film scores for releases on DVD, Blu-Ray and Turner Classic Movies. The Mont Alto Orchestra are regulars at the Telluride Film Festival, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the Silent Film Society of Chicago and the Kansas Silent Film Festival, and have toured around the United States, from Films at Lincoln Center in New York to Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. For more information, visit mont-alto.com.

Sun, Jul 28, 3:00
Tickets $20/$15 AFI Members

THE FARMER'S WIFELive musical accompaniment by Andrew Simpson

Hitchcock was a great lover of screen comedies but rarely made them; this is one of his most straight-ahead comedic efforts, with winning results. After his daughter weds, Farmer Sweetland (Jameson Thomas), a prosperous middle-aged widower, decides to marry again, and with the aid of his faithful housekeeper, Araminta Dench (Lillian Hall-Davis), sets to finding a desirable mate. Calling on all the eligible ladies of the village, Sweetland's efforts at courting meet with hilariously disastrous results. "THE FARMER'S WIFE is a deceptively subtle film and one of Hitchcock's most enjoyable early works, with good performances, superior settings, lovely locations and the kind of gentle comedy, coupled with farce, beloved of British audiences." – San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

About Andrew Simpson
Andrew Earle Simpson, composer, pianist and organist, is ordinary professor and head of the division of Theory and Composition at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. A composer of opera, silent film, orchestral, chamber, choral, dance and vocal music, he plays regularly at the Library of Congress's Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, the National Gallery of Art and the AFI Silver. His silent film scores have been broadcast on the Turner Classic Movies Channel, and many of his silent film piano and chamber scores are available on DVD through All Day Entertainment. For more information, visit andrewesimpson.com.